Santa Barbara officials are grappling with a public works budget that may be reduced by one-third if voters don’t extend a half-percent sales tax known as Measure D before 2010.

 The city stands to lose between $5 and $6 million for projects such as bridge repair, public transit and street lights – “Almost everything you see that has to do with your car,” said City Councilman Roger Horton.

“We would have to set some priorities,” said Robert Peirson, Santa Barbara's finance director. “We’re talking about a pretty big part of the budget for streets.”

The City Council at 2 p.m. at City Hall considers a Measure D "program of projects."  This normally unfolds as a routine formality; it's required by the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, the agency that administers the money.

This year’s discussion could take on an added measure of angst, however, as the city looks at what the budget picture might be like without that money: Projects may have to be reduced, and jobs may be cut.

“Those are difficult decisions to make,” said Tony Nisich, the city’s public works director.

Measure D was approved by voters in 1989 to pay for transportation projects throughout Santa Barbara County. Local cities receive 70 percent of the money after soliciting input from the community on how to spend it.

An extension of the measure on last November’s ballot failed to garner the required two-thirds majority of votes. It would have continued the present half-percent sales tax for transportation with a quarter-percent increase.

The association plans to place another measure on the ballot in 2008, but passing new taxes is no easy task, city officials say. Continuing the existing tax is not so much the issue of contention; it's how the money will be divided between highways, roadways and alternatives to the car such as trains, buses and bikes.

“We don’t know for sure whether Measure D will be extended, and if so, in what form,” Nisich said.

Cities throughout the county will face similar budgetary decisions over the next three years.

Santa Barbara spreads Measure D money between operations and administration of public works; bus service, including downtown and waterfront shuttles; and capital projects such as sidewalk repair, storm drains and pavement maintenance.

The remaining budget for these programs and projects comes from a city utility tax and other revenue.

Councilman Horton, who chairs the city’s finance committee, said he hopes the association can come up with a proposal that voters will pass next year.

“We need to jump right in to figuring out what kind of measure would pass, and convince the public they need to support it,” he said.

For more information, visit www.santabarbaraca.gov.

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